At-Risk populations are found in all societies, including our own Utah County community. At-Risk populations are groups of individuals that are more vulnerable to infectious diseases, have special needs regarding health care and/or are at a high risk for health disparity. Factors that place individuals at high-risk include: age; economic hardship; social, geographical, or cultural separation; limited language skills; limited health care access due to discrimination; and increased susceptibility to injury or death as a result of physical, cognitive, or sensory disability or disease vulnerability.

Reflection:

A student in a local clinical experience found that one cannot take for granted that every patient experiences the same life events. Her story of working with a little boy who never had a birthday cake due to his family always “running” to another country emphasizes her learning that “…I need to be culturally sensitive with every patient I have. I really have no idea what my patient has been through in their lifetime and I need to be aware that I don’t know everything. I need to always be teachable about other cultures and realize that I don’t know everything no matter how much I am exposed to the culture.”